Updating a website script version is one of the most complicated procedure a webmaster encounters when managing a website. Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8? Here is a small guide with various details. Let’s start with general info : Note that you don’t need to know anything about PHP to build a site in Drupal. When you search (preferably on Google) for a solution to your latest Drupal problem, a lot of the pages that come up will be providing snippets of PHP code. This is not the correct help information for you, the Drupal newbie. This is for technically competent people who are able to build their own modules and stuff like that. If you look at the other pages thrown up by your search, you will probably find an answer to your problem which involves working within the existing Drupal core and modules. That means, a solution you can implement using menus and tickboxes and whatnot, without needing to mess around with code.
Note: Earlier, there used to be a migrate_plus module in Drupal 8 core which contained all the pieces of migrate functionality that wasn’t able to make it in the Drupal 7 core. It contained all the plugins for the support of XML, CSV and JSON data sources along with the support for databases like MS SQL or Oracle. This module has now been split into different modules, namely migrate_plus, migrate_tools and migrate_source_csv. When done with the installation of the modules, you will have to navigate to the upgrade path. For this, go to www.yoursite.com/upgrade (remember to replace yoursite with the name of your Drupal 8 website). You will be brought to the following screen. Please make sure you follow the directions on the screen before proceeding.
If you’re importing data from a non-Drupal datastore, start with Set up Migrate Demo Site and Source Data . We’ll walk through the process of connecting the migrate system to an external data source, writing custom migration paths, using custom process plugins to transform data during import, and best practices for executing your custom migrations. We’ll primarily look at using an external MySQL database as our data source, but the techniques learned will apply to any data source. We’ll also discuss how to extract data from CSV, JSON, and XML sources.
The steps above outline how to get a distribution minimally installed on an existing site. But you’ll still have a lot of work to do to reconcile your existing site content and structure with what has been created by the distribution. Here are a few tips to get you started–but you should begin with the assumption that there will be lots more you’ll discover and need to fix. Roles. Many distributions will create one or more custom roles. Examples include contributor, editor, and administrator. If any of these roughly correspond to existing roles on your site, delete the roles created by the distribution and rename the existing ones to use the distribution role names. For example, if your site has a role called “site administrator” and the distribution has created a role called “administrator”, delete the newly created “administrator” role and rename “site administrator” to “administrator”. After adjusting the role names, visit admin/config/people/accounts, ensure the “administrator” role is selected as the “Administrator role”, and save the form. Consolidating the roles in this way will get you the functionality of the distribution’s roles and permissions while maintaining your existing users’ role allocations.
Here are basic steps to take to upgrade an existing Drupal site to use a distribution. These are rough guidelines only. Because each site and each distribution is configured differently, you’re likely to run into additional complexities. But these notes should at least get you started in the right direction. Select a distribution to use. You’ll want to find the distribution that most closely matches your site requirements. See the listings and comparisons of Drupal distributions on drupal.org.
There is no easy way around it: upgrading to Drupal 8 is a big change that requires time and attention. To help ease your anxiety around this, we’ve put together a comprehensive overview of the various implications surrounding the upgrade process to Drupal 8, including how to best prepare yourself, your Drupal website, and your team for the project. Read more details at Drupal 8 Migration.